FYPin

Unpinned Spots
Created Loop
Saved Spots (list)
Saved Spots
Loop on map

Inspiration

We realized that discovering places is not really the problem anymore — remembering them is.

People constantly save restaurants, cafes, bookstores, events, and hidden gems from TikTok, Instagram, Google Maps, and recommendations from friends. But those saved places often disappear into folders and are forgotten when it is finally time to make plans.

That inspired Fypin: a way to turn saved-for-later spots into personalized plans for today.

Instead of giving users another endless feed of recommendations, Fypin starts with places they already expressed interest in and helps turn those saves into something actionable.

What it does

Fypin helps users build personalized local outings based on:

places they have already saved
their current location or selected neighborhood
how much time they have
their budget
their interests or current vibe
nearby events and local discoveries

A user can tell Fypin something like:

“I’m in SoHo, I have three hours, I want to spend under $25, and I’m in the mood for coffee and bookstores.”

Fypin then creates a realistic multi-stop plan using nearby saved places and complementary local experiences.

The goal is simple: your saves should not get lost.

How we built it

We designed Fypin as a mobile-first local planning experience.

The frontend focuses on a simple flow where users can choose their location, available time, budget, and interests before generating a personalized outing.

On the backend, our planning logic evaluates candidate locations using factors such as:

proximity
time constraints
budget
user interests
whether a place was previously saved
nearby events

Saved places are prioritized so the resulting plan still reflects what the user originally wanted to experience.

Rather than relying entirely on AI to make planning decisions, we use structured data and deterministic logic for constraints such as distance, time, and budget. AI can then help personalize or explain the resulting itinerary.

We also designed Loopie, our small NYC-inspired companion, to give Fypin a more playful and personal identity throughout the experience.

Challenges we ran into

One of our biggest challenges was deciding how much to build during a short hackathon.

Our original ideas included deeper social-media integrations, automatic extraction from saved posts, real-time routing, event data, and more advanced personalization. We quickly realized that trying to implement everything would make the core experience less reliable.

We narrowed the project around one central question:

How can we take places someone already wants to visit and turn them into a realistic plan?

Another challenge was balancing recommendations with user intent. We did not want Fypin to become another generic recommendation engine, so we designed the planner to prioritize saved places while using nearby events and discoveries to complete the experience.

We also had to think carefully about how to keep the interface visually engaging without overwhelming users with maps, filters, cards, and controls.

What we learned

Building Fypin taught us that recommendation and planning are two very different problems.

Finding interesting places is relatively easy. Creating a plan that respects time, location, budget, and user preferences requires more structured decision-making.

We also learned how important it is to separate responsibilities across the system. Real-world constraints should come from structured data and planning logic, while AI is more useful for understanding preferences and making the final experience feel natural and personalized.

Most importantly, we learned how much stronger a product becomes when we focus on one clear user problem instead of trying to build every possible feature.

What's next for Fypin

We would love to expand Fypin with:

TikTok, Instagram, and Google Maps save importing
automatic place extraction from social links
real-time public event discovery
opening-hours and live routing data
adaptive replanning when plans change
group outing planning
notifications when users are near places they previously saved
a “serendipity” mode that introduces users to something outside their usual interests

Our long-term vision is for Fypin to become a personal layer over the city — remembering the places you care about and helping you actually experience them.